Health Service Journal
Ruth Thorlby
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Ruth Thorlby on justice for all
16-Feb-2009
As Barack Obama begins his first term as president, many US minorities will be watching to see what action he takes to improve healthcare. -
Ruth Thorlby on the price of healthcare in the US
27-Oct-2008
For a new arrival to the US, embarking on the Health Foundation's Harkness Fellowship in New York, it is hard to take in the full litany of facts about the 46 million Americans with no health insurance. -
Data collection: Big Brother isn't watching you
14-Jul-2008
Health information has not kept pace with population change. Ruth Thorlby and Veena Raleigh look at efforts to improve collection -
A glance towards the next 60 years of the NHS
3-Jul-2008
Looking back over the past 60 years reminds us of some familiar debates in the NHS: concerns about financial sustainability, wastefulness, and rationing of resources are all familiar issues today. -
Maternity services at 60: the birth of a new era
5-Jun-2008
For pregnant women, the birth of the NHS meant the family doctor’s advice could be sought freely without incurring expense, according to the 1949 Ministry of Health report. -
Waiting times are just so... 1950s
10-Apr-2008
As waiting times hit an all-time low in the NHS, anecdotal evidence suggests a need to revise the view that waiting continues to be a substitute for prices as a rationing mechanism. -
How to score public accountability points
7-Apr-2008
Primary care trusts must start to come under local public accountability, argue Richard Lewis and Ruth Thorlby -
1948: creation of a new workforce
13-Mar-2008
In 1948 the NHS opened its collective doors to be faced not only with an inherited waiting list of around half a million patients and a clamour for spectacles and false teeth, but also an almost immediate staff shortage. -
Why NHS budgets have always been a bugbear
14-Feb-2008
Setting the first NHS budget in 1948 was no easy task. The Beveridge report, the 1942 blueprint for the welfare state, suggested £130m. -
60 years of eating and smoking
11-Jan-2008
It was in the 'ninth year of austerity' - with the end of full rationing still six years away - that the NHS came into existence on 5 July 1948. The chief medical officer, reporting on the state of the public's health, declared the NHS had begun 'its colossal task' amid 'economic adversity' - though he said the British people were coping with 'their usual good-tempered grumbling'. -
Recalling the offer of choice
20-Sep-2007
The government revealed the results of its£11million GP access survey last month and promised ‘immediate action’ to rectify the areas of underperformance, particularly the poorer access reported by patients in poorer areas; ‘improvement teams’ are being dispatched.
